


Hogwarts Mystery Fictober - A collection of four short stories

by FictionalQuacker



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry potter Hogwarts mystery, Hogwarts Mystery
Genre: Fictober
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-27 15:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16222376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionalQuacker/pseuds/FictionalQuacker
Summary: This is my contributions to the Hogwarts Mystery fictober - four short stories centered around Hogwarts Mystery characters.Features these one-shot stories;"The Super Special Event for House Pride""Nifflers Against The Dark Arts And Where To Find Them""Makeover Weasley"and "Halloween at Hogwarts"





	1. The Super Special Event for House Pride!

**Author's Note:**

> The Super Special Event for House Pride!  
> This chapter describes a day of fun and friendly contest between the Hogwarts students, arranged by Bill Weasley and the other head boys and girls at the time of Jacob's sibling's fifth year at Hogwarts.

It was a morning of early october, and in many ways this was a very ordinary day at Hogwarts, but it was also a day ripe with the promise of excitement and fun for the young witches and wizards. The head boys and girls had arranged a special event that would take place today, an event that according to rumor had something to do with the four houses - Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. As breakfast was served the Great Hall filled with thrilled chatter. 

MC sat squeezed in between Rowan and Penny at the Hufflepuff table, helping herself to a large portion of marmalade and toast.

“So what do you guys think they’ll have us doing today?” she asked her friends. Penny put down her tea and cracked a smile.

“Rumor goes we’re going to have a contest between the houses.” Penny said and winked before continuing, “a contest to see which of us have the most pride of our house.”

“I’m not quite sure how you would have a contest like that” Rowan scratched her chin with a puzzled look, which quickly turned into an excited one. “Although I couldn’t be more excited! Bill Weasley has been planning it so it must be great!”

Giggling, Penny pointed at a boy with long orange hair sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table.  

“Look, I think he’s going to get up!”

Bill Weasley, a tall and handsome seventh-year was indeed getting up from his table and walking up to in front of the teacher’s table. He was head boy of Gryffindor house and a close friend to MC, he had even given her a hand-knitted Weasley sweater for christmas. Bill stopped to exchange a few words with professor Mcgonagall, who looked remarkably pleased as she nodded and gestured for him to address the other students. Bill turned around and cleared his throat loudly to get people’s attention.

“Good morning! As you may have heard, today we will be having a special event for everyone to celebrate pride of our houses in a different way than we normally do.” He pointed at the large hourglasses that showed the points for the house cup. “There is a lot of rivalry between us, some of us can get especially nasty...”

A small chorus of boo:s emerged from the Slytherin table as he said this, followed by hushing from the Gryffindors. Bill cleared his throat again before he continued on, “which is all the more reason for us all to find a way of having fun together and feeling the school spirit! Today we are going to play a game arranged by us head boys and girls, where you will be sorted into mixed teams. There is a treasure hidden somewhere on school grounds and you will have to work together to find it!”

As Bill paused his speech many students muttered amongst each other. Penny whispered excitedly about who she would like to have on her team, Rowan still had difficulty taking her eyes off Bill who seemed ready to continue talking.

“We will make the teams now, you will receive your first instructions afterwards!” Bill slapped his hands together as he stopped talking and a couple of people who weren’t busy talking over him to their friends were applauding, professor Mcgonagall among them.

The Ravenclaw head girl stepped up next to Bill and began reading from a long list of names placed into groups of five. Students were grouping up accordingly with clearly mixed reactions to which people they ended up with. MC finally heard her name under ‘Team 13’ and stood up to join them. Her group consisted of a gryffindor first-year she did not recognize, Ravenclaw Talbott Winger, her friend Barnaby lee, and Penny’s little sister Bea Haywood.

“I’m so glad I’m with someone I know!” Bea exclaimed excitedly as MC came up to them. “Penny seems to have been placed in a nice group too!”. Looking over, MC saw Penny standing in the middle of her group, laughing and chatting. The only person who did not smile back at her was Ismelda Murk - one of the few people on whom Penny’s natural, friendly charm did not have much effect upon.

Barnaby dunked MC’s back with a friendly sort of grunt, as he withdrew MC noticed something stirring in the boys robes.

“B-Barnaby? What’s-” She pointed at the spot where there had been no doubt of something moving around.

“Schh!” Barnaby silenced her with a frustrated look on his face. He seemed to turn slightly pink and moved closer to whisper “I got Sickleworth in my inner pocket, don’t tell anyone”.

Despite knowing full well of Barnaby’s deep affection for magical creatures and the inherit mischievous tendencies of the otherwise exceptionally well-behaved niffler, she felt taken completely off-guard by the notion of him carrying the creature around in secret. He offered her a glance and sure enough, as MC peered inside his robes there was the niffler staring back at her, seemingly very content with sitting in the wide pocket stitched on to the inside of the Slytherin robe.

“Chk!” The niffler greeted MC happily, but before MC could do or say anything else someone spoke up loudly behind them, giving all three of them a minor fright.

“What are you two idiots doing?!” Merula Snyde, a Slytherin girl in their year said behind them. Her cheeks were flushed pink and she looked quite offended.

“Are… Are you some kind of perverts?”

“What? What do you mean?” Barnaby asked, sincerely confused while MC began to blush same as Merula.

Merula took a deep breath, steadying herself but still looking furious.

“I suspected you guys fancied each other but you can’t even keep your treacherous hands to yourselves in public now? Disgusting!” She yelled and drew the attention of the surrounding people to them before storming off to her own team, one of them being a very confused Charlie Weasley.

MC did not understand this situation at all, was Merula that jealous that Barnaby had left her to be friends with her instead? Even so she still had Ismelda at her side and they seemed to get along better than ever. Ismelda however gave no answer as she just shook her head when MC raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction, hoping for some hint of an explanation.

“C-can we read the instructions now, please?” The first-year squeaked and brought their attention back to the matter at hand. Talbott nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, if you two are done messing around let’s concentrate and get this over with.” His voice was dark almost like that of an adult, despite being in the same year as MC and Barnaby. Serious and handsome, the Ravenclaw boy gave a slightly intimidating and hostile impression if you did not know him. He had a point, all the other teams were already either peering over parchments with instructions or rushing out of the Great Hall. 

Bea held theirs in her hands and held it out for them all to read, they huddled together to see properly.

 _You came from four houses but you make one now, work together and you will have fun! The clock is ticking so you better run… The first clue out of two, is that there is a creature in this school_ _who has five pairs of arms - just like you!_

“The squid!” Barnaby said the second he had finished reading. “The giant squid has eight arms and two tentacles! That’s ten pairs, right!”

MC laughed and now it was her turn to slap him on the back as he beamed with joyous pride over solving the riddle so quickly. Bea and the first-year giggled too, and the five of them half ran out of the hall. As they passed Merula, MC received a fierce stink-eye, and MC knew she was going to be determined to beat them whatever it took.

* * *

 

When they reached the lake two other groups were already out on the water and another three groups on the beach, struggling to carry new boats into the water. The people on the lake were in rowboats, heading towards the giant squid who was peacefully floating at the surface. Next to it, Hagrid and professor Kettleburn were sitting in a rowboat of their own, twice as large as any of the boats used by students and yet it still seemed quite too small. The waterline was dangerously close to the rim of the boat’s side, constantly threatening to spill over and sink it. MC assumed that the two men who were who were no doubt the most qualified to handle a creature as large as the squid had been tasked with overseeing the event.

Looking more carefully MC saw that one of the teams that had already made it out on the water belonged to Ismelda Murk and Penny. Their team was approaching the squid quickly and it was clear that they should hurry and do the same. Jogging over to where people had gathered on the beach, they picked out a boat for themselves. Barnaby, MC, Bea and the Gryffindor kid were about to try to lift it up when Talbott stopped them.

“What are you doing?” He was staring at them, “you’re not about to lift it by hand? Don’t you see how the other teams are struggling to do just that?”

MC looked over and sure enough, a few paces away their friends Tonks, Tulip and Jae Kim were attempting to hoist their boat into the water, their faces red, sweaty and twisted in grimace at the strain. Talbott raised his wand and they backed off from their boat.

“ _Locomotor_!” He said decisively and the boat lifted off the ground, hovering a few inches above the shoreline. As he moved his wand the boat slowly floated toward the water, until he with a flick let it drop down into the lake. To his great discontent his teammates cheered loudly, Barnaby giving him a friendly pat on the head as they boarded the boat. Tonks team had apparently been observing them as she yelled out towards them.

“Good job, mate! I can’t believe we didn’t think of that! Tulip - cast the spell!”

“Don’t you think if I knew how to cast it I already would have?” Tulip replied, although less loud and cheery than Tonks.

“Oh, I just thought-”

“Just because I’m a Ravenclaw doesn’t mean you can just assume I know every spell there is!” Tulip rolled her eyes but somehow did not seem offended. Tonks shrugged and gave the spell a go herself, but MC did not keep watching her as Talbott put an oar into her hand. MC giggled.

“Oh, but this we do by hand?” Her insolence was rewarded with one of Talbott’s unfriendly glares.

Ismelda and Penny’s team were already interacting with the squid, seemingly trying to convince it to give them the next clue by shouting and flinging food at it. Where they had gotten the food MC had no idea, perhaps they had used a summoning charm or multiplied some they had snatched from the Great Hall that morning. MC cursed for not thinking of a way to get on good terms with the squid should it be needed once they reached it.

With Barnaby’s strength they were able to approach the squid faster than the other teams, by now there were a total of six groups racing towards it. As they slowed down to try and find a way to communicate with the giant animal, there was a small splash on the side of their boat followed by a horrified scream.

“SICKLEWORTH!” Barnaby shook the boat as he stood up, screaming at the spot where the splash had come from. Before anyone else could take in what had happened Barnaby had already torn off his school robes and dived in. Talbott looked entirely flabbergasted.

“Sickleworth? Isn’t that the name of professor Rakepick’s niffler?”

“The niffler jumped into the lake? But why?” MC leaned over the rim to try and see where they had gone, but the water was so dark she could not see a trace of neither niffler nor Barnaby. Bea leaned over too, forcing Talbott and the Gryffindor to lean back far on the other side to balance the boat.

“What’s happening?!” Hagrid’s powerful voice boomed from the boat he shared with professor Kettleburn. They were rowing towards them.

“Uh, Barnaby jumped in the lake!” MC shouted back. She stood up, wondering how long before there was no choice but to jump in and save them. Wrangling herself out of her robe in preparation to jump in, she almost missed the moment of when two hands clutching Sickleworth breached the surface right next to the head of the squid. Barnaby’s head came next, and he took a huge gulp of air before he almost fell back down in the water. Fighting hard to keep both his own head and the niffler where they could breathe, he looked uncharacteristically weak and helpless. Hagrid had taken the oars now and made haste towards him, getting close enough to scoop the boy up within a matter of seconds.

Barnaby was coughing loudly, but still held the small creature he had saved close to his chest. Both Hagrid, Kettleburn, and the MC-team made their way to the beach. Bea ran at Barnaby as soon as he could stand on solid ground and looked him up and down with amazement in her eyes.

“You jumped in to save it! That little creature… you didn’t even hesitate!” She beamed up at him, several heads shorter than Barnaby. Barnaby smiled sheepishly but directed his attention to MC rather than replying.

“Sickleworth got something, it was taped to the squids head!” He held out the niffler in both hands and sure enough, the soaking and shaken creature seemed unexpectedly triumphant despite the fresh trauma of nearly drowning. Sickleworth rummaged around in his pouch with his small paws and brought out a shiny, golden container shaped like a cylinder. MC groaned.

“So that’s why you almost drowned yourself - because you saw something shiny?”

The niffler seemed insulted at this lack of appreciation for his retrieval, and shoved the cylinder back into his belly pouch with a frustrated snarl.

“Chk-snrt…”  The creature made a sour face both so cute and amusing that had MC not controlled herself she would have burst out laughing.

“Sickleworth, may we please see the pretty cylinder again?” MC asked, making sure to speak softly, and the niffler seemed pleased to reconcile. He took out the silver container again and MC took it from him, twisting it around and trying to something to indicate what clue it had for the second part of the contest. The third time she turned around, it popped open and revealed a small piece of parchment. Bea and the Gryffindor first-year made excited squeals and MC read aloud the fine, thin handwriting.

“Contest and conquest all houses share, each of taking as much glory as we dare. All witches and wizards should go as far up as they can, as close to the sky as the floor will bear.”

“What’s that mean?” Barnaby looked confused, burrowing his brow. Talbott was kindly giving him a hand in getting dry, summoning hot dry wind from his wand which he blew like a hairdryer over Barnaby and Sickleworth. Sickleworth seemed exceptionally pleased and enjoyed the warm air with his eyes closed, his little beak open and relaxed.

“I think it means we’re supposted to ‘go high,” Talbott said. “Probably to some high-up place where the next challenge is located.”

The first-year Gryffindor, who was staring at Talbotts wand with facination, turned to MC and looked at her with large eyes full of childish wonder as he spoke.

“Should we go to the astronomy tower, then?”

“The astronomy tower?” Bea asked.

“Oh, isn’t it the tallest place at Hogwarts? I think professor Binns said so once...”

The kid was absolutely right. Bea gave him a big smile and they all ran back towards the main entrance to the castle. MC made sure to wave at Merula who had just set out on the lake with her team. Merula did not wave back, she seemed to instead focus on yelling at Charlie and another Gryffindor boy MC recognized from charms class for not rowing fast enough.

Making it to the astronomy tower took effort under relaxed circumstances. The many stairs often seemed endless as they spiraled on upwards, attempting to run up them left all of them panting and wheezing. Barnaby was the last to surrender to the burning in their lungs, slowing down to catch his breath while Bea, MC, and the Gryffindor first-year all had to stop to breathe. Eventually they reached the top floor and opened the door to the astronomy classroom - to find that the room had been redecorated beyond recognition.

There were drapes with the Hogwarts crest embroidered onto them on every wall, plenty of tables, chairs and sofas had been set up all around the room and comfortable cushions lay in the corners. In the middle of the room stood the head boys and girls with professors Mcgonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape gathered. They cheered and even Snape clapped politely as they entered the room.

“Congratulations! You made it!” Bill Weasley said with a great, big smile on his face and his arms full of bottles of butterbeer. He handed them out and they made a toast for Hogwarts.

The other teams began falling in before long. Merula came running in seconds before Ismelda and both of them nearly collapsed as soon as they stopped running. Apparently their two teams had been in as much competition with each other as they had been with MC - except instead of the cold stares MC and Merula exchanged the two Slytherin friends giggled and gave each other an exhausted hug as soon as they had recovered from running up the stairs.

Once all teams had arrived the room was quite cramped by now. More butterbeer had been delivered by house elves, carried in boxes over their heads and placed on the tables for the witches and wizards to enjoy. Even Hagrid and Kettleburn came up to join them, once they had taken seats Bill and the four heads of houses drew their attention again.

“Congratulations again to all of you! I hope you enjoyed this event, and I would like to give a special thank you to our teachers for giving us their permission and assistance in arranging this friendly competition!” He waved his wand and summoned four beautiful flowers that hovered in the air, seemingly emitting a glittering powder as they flew to each of the heads of houses. Professor Flitwick made a noise of pleased surprise, and professor Sprout gave her flower a sniff which made her sneeze a cloud of glitter. Professor Mcgonagall was absolutely beaming - her entire face glowing with the most earnest pride as she looked at Bill.

“Now, I believe our professors have a couple of words for us?” Bill finished his short speech.

“Yes, I believe we do!” Said professor Flitwick happily. “A little rivalry can be an excellent source of motivation, but it should not come without an equal amount of friendship and consideration for each other!”

“Indeed, this school would not be what it is without all of us exciting together, as equals!” Professor Sprout chimed in.

“Wisdom, curiosity…” Flitwick started, glancing over at Snape.

“...Cunning, resourcefulness,” Snape said, sounding as uninterested as always.

“Bravery and chivalry!” Mcgonagall continued.

“Loyalty and hard work.” Sprout said with a smile. “We all have a little bit of everything in us, and this school unites us. That is what makes us successful as a school and as a community.”

MC looked over at Merula, who to her surprise seemed moved by Sprout’s words to them. When Ismelda raised her eyebrow however, Merula’s expression changed to one of slight annoyance.

They toasted again, now all together, and there was a celebration like none MC had ever experienced. For the first time all four houses shared their pride with each other, instilling a sense of community and friendship so different from in their day-to-day lives at Hogwarts. Just for this evening, all of them were friends.


	2. Nifflers against the dark arts and where to find them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hogwarts students have hidden many a suspicious thing in the castle throughout the centuries, but few have been so bold to keep a cursed item in their own beds. The honorary teacher in Defence Against the Dark Arts, a niffler named Sickleworth, finds one such item, and pays for it dearly. 
> 
> This is my second short story for HPHM Fictober, 2018.

This had been a long day. It was late afternoon, and the winter darkness had been creeping closer for a while now. It was the second week of october but it was far colder than it had been last year. Last winter had been dreadfully long and she hoped sincerely it would not be as cold and unforgiving again. Fire was blazing in the fireplace of the classroom and their teacher, professor Rakepick, was demonstrating how you could cast stronger defensive spells by mastering a proper stance. The woman stood tall and handsome, her hair looking eerily red in the light from the fireplace, her proud face glowing with determination and arrogant confidence as she posed and flicked her wand with expertise.

Her niffler, Sickleworth, was assisting the class as he usually did. Perhaps assisting was a generous word to describe it, when the niffler was spending most of the time trying to steal whatever shiny items they had missed removing from their bags before coming to class. Professor Rakepick did not scold him when he did steal something from a student, instead she insisted this was good practice for them to learn how to always stay alert and aware of their surroundings even as they needed to focus on something else. Perhaps she had a point, MC thought as she instinctively checked below her desk, where the little creature was just about to put one of her spare hairpins into the pouch on his belly. 

The niffler scurried away as fast as he could, but MC pointed her wand at him and focused on making her jinx as small and harmless as possible.

“ _ Impedimenta _ !”

Sickleworth let out a small squeal as the jinx hit his backside, stopping him mid-step. MC got up and fetched him, taking the hairpin back before putting him down gently on her desk. She heard professor Rakepick give a small laugh from the front of the classroom.

“Good jinx, but next time try catching him before you have to use magic against my niffler. Alright, now pay attention to this next power stance. I’ll have you demonstrate it within a few minutes…” 

Sickleworth did not seem offended by having been jinxed. MC and the niffler got along quite well after all their adventures together. After all, they had spent most of MCs fourth year together. When he came to and could move freely again, Sickleworth just shook his head and casually hopped down from the desk and disappeared from sight. 

Dinner in the great hall was long awaited by the hungry students. After two large helpings of hot autumn stew, served with fresh baked spiced bread and another two portions of pudding for dessert MC longed for the welcoming embrace of the plush sofas in the common room. If they were lucky some prefect might have gotten a house elf to put out hot chocolate or sweet mulled wine. Remembering the waiting pile of OWL preparations, she groaned and let her head fall on Rowan’s shoulder as they walked down the corridors. Rowan laughed, probably thinking she had given herself a stomach ache with that second bowl of pudding, but put a supportive arm around her and cheerily talked about how exciting tomorrow’s herbology was going to be. Rowan being Rowan, she had read the chapters for tomorrow three times already and explained her favorite parts in great detail. MC appreciated this, since it meant she would not need to read the chapters quite as attentively herself that evening. 

They went into the dungeons, towards the barrels that guarded the entrance to Hufflepuff house. MC was about to tap the code into the lids with her wand when a sudden movement by her hip distracted her. To her surprise, her bag was moving! She hesitated, but something seemed desperate to get out, so she opened it. 

A fluffy black head stuck out and a small, familiar creature looked up at her with beady little eyes. He shook his head and squeaked at her with delight.

“Chk-chk!” The niffler smiled with his beak and waved a clawed paw up at them. 

“Sickleworth?!” MC groaned loudly. “What are you doing? You’re supposed to be with Rakepick!”

The niffler just shook his head again, and jumped out onto the floor. He sniffed the air for a second, then rushed off down the corridor away from them. Not sure what to do, MC and Rowan looked at each other before MC took the lead and started running after Sickleworth. The creature was quick on foot despite his little legs and had already put some distance between them when they caught sight of him. They chased him as fast as they could, but just as they were catching up they saw him run behind a wall, jumping between the legs of two unsuspecting Slytherin second-years, and vanished. 

“He must have gone into the Slytherin common room!” Rowan gasped. They could not follow him there. They had snuck into the Slytherin house before, in their second year at Hogwarts, and it was a violation of rules they were not keen on repeating. They stared up at the solid stone wall. 

“Is… it okay you think? That he’s in there?” MC asked.

“I suppose it’s technically fine, since he doesn’t belong to any house… he should kind of be able to go into any house… I think?” Rowan wrinkled her forehead. MC guessed that the movability of magical pets to teachers was not specified in writing or else Rowan would have given a far more confident answer. Not being able to go inside, and MC already being on thin ice with the teachers for constantly breaking school rules, they decided to wait outside for a while. After all, the common room was a perfectly safe place and the niffler was bound to be recognized by the students inside. Sure enough, less than half an hour later an enraged prefect stormed out, holding the squirming niffler by the neck. He glared at them when he noticed the two girls outside.

“What are you doing here? Are you responsible for letting this niffler into our common room?! When professor Snape hears of this-” He started, threatening, but MC interrupted him with all the poise she could muster.

“We’re so sorry, we tried to stop him but he snuck down here himself. Probably sensed something shiny” MC tried an apologetic smile, but that did not help. The prefect scoffed.

“A niffler snuck into a common room all by itself? And I suppose he just wandered all the way here from professor Rakepick’s office himself, too?”

“Well, no. He got into my bag when I wasn’t looking, and…”

The prefect shook his head and gestured down the corridor from where they had come.

“We are going to go and return this creature to professor Rakepick now. Then, you will answer to professors Snape and Sprout.” 

They had little choice but to come. MC wondered if their professors would believe them, Sprout might hear them out but Snape was unlikely to do anything but judge them same as the prefect had. They walked all the way back to the defence against the dark arts classroom, and found Patricia Rakepick eating a sandwich at her desk while reading from a large old tome. She did not look up at them.

“Yes? State your business,” she spoke with a low, bored tone to her voice. The prefect cleared his throat. 

“Professor, I believe these two took your niffler and set him loose on the Slytherin common room.” 

She looked up in a start, eyes fixed on the niffler in his grip. Sure enough, Sickleworth had a sad look to his little face and his paws pressed against his belly to protect the pouch where he put all of his stolen treasures. The poor creature was trembling. Rakepick got up to take him into her own hands, and inspected him carefully. 

“Sickleworth, are you all right?” She said, more softly than MC had ever heard her speak before. The niffler trembled more intensely and gave a weak, pained squeak at his human. She put him down on the desk and forced his paws off his belly. He protested meekly, but she stuck three fingers down his pouch and felt around it. MC did not know what was happening, but the hard knot in her gut told her something was very wrong with the poor niff. 

“It’s okay, Sickleworth. I got you. We’ll make it okay, see?” Rakepick hummed, and she pulled several items out of the pouch: a large silver hair clip, a letter knife, a shiny galleon, a ball-pointed pen, and a green ring. She eyed the items carefully, and hovered her hand over them. Her hand stopped over the ring.

“This was found in the Slytherin common room? It reeks with dark magic.” Rakepick asked with a disgusted look on her face, holding out the ring to show the prefect. He scratched his neck, looking far less confident now.

“No, he just ran through the common room, into one of the girl’s dorms. I think he grabbed everything he took in there.”

“I see. Then we shall need to have a serious talk with those Slytherin girls.” Rakepick said gravely. She went around her desk, pulling out a drawer and taking out a small bag of purple leather, where she put the ring. The ring had a pattern carved into the metal, and it emitted an ominous, green glow. The prefect looked at her, puzzled.

“Professor, what about these two? Shouldn’t we deal with their punishment?”

Rakepick wrinkled her nose. 

“Punishment? This was my fault for letting them leave my classroom with Sickleworth.” When nobody seemed to understand, she continued. “I saw him jump into your bag, miss. I thought it would be a good lesson and I trusted he would be safe with you, as you proved yourself capable of controlling him so well last year. Turns out I trusted you too much, but that is on me.”

The prefect looked shamed now. MC glanced at Rowan, then looked back at Rakepick.

“Will Sickleworth be okay? Is the ring cursed?”

“I believe the answer to both those questions is yes. I’ve seen him put cursed objects in his pouch before, and as small as he is he is also persistent. I have medicine for his belly and a warm pocket for him to rest in, until he recovers.” Rakepick opened another drawer of her desk and brought out a black jar labeled in golden letters  _ ‘Nifty Niffy’s Belly Rub - the cure for all niffler mishaps!’ _ . She showed them how to apply the black ointment on the inside of his pouch, finding another three stolen objects as she did. Sickleworth came to slowly, his trembling stopped first and then he regained more and more strength to struggle against Rakepick’s swift fingers. When she finished the niffler stood up and walked towards her, and she fished him up and put him unceremonially in one of her pockets. 

Finally, MC and Rowan were sent back to their common room. Gratefully, they left the classroom for the second time. On the way back they spoke non-stop about the cursed ring and who it might belong to. 

“I bet it’s Ismelda Murk!” Said Rowan, a little too loud, “she’s the obvious suspect isn’t she? She’s a Slytherin, a girl, obviously… and she’s always been open about how she loves the dark arts. Not to mention… You-Know-Who…” 

“But how… and why, would she take a cursed object to Hogwarts?” MC wrinkled her forehead. She knew Ismelda was grim and quick to brag about all the horrible things she would like to see happen, but to talk about curses and actually keep one in your dorm were two entirely different things. At least, MC found it hard to imagine why you would keep anything dangerous right where you slept.

The common room was still half-full when they entered. Most of the students were in the last three years, which was to no surprise as it was they who had the most work to do in the evenings. Their house mates that were not deeply concentrated on homework greeted them from where they sat, a small chorus of welcoming words. A large, steaming kettle sat on the fire and the air smelled of fresh coffee, cinnamon, carnation, cardamom and oranges. Rowan grabbed two cups from a table next to the fireplace and MC filled them with the spiced coffee. It smelled like christmas. 

Penny Haywood, their friend and fellow fifth-year, waved at them to come sit with her at her table. She had stacked books in front of her, but shoved them aside to make room. 

“You like coffee? I made it since so many are up studying.” Penny smiled at them, expecting them to take a sip. It was so hot it burnt the tip of the tongue, but MC was sure it would taste very good once the temperature went down some.

“It’s good, thank you Penny” MC smiled back at her over the steaming cup. 

“My grandmother always puts spices in her coffee when it gets cold, thought I might try it!” Penny pushed a loose golden lock away from her face. 

“Oh yeah, you won’t believe what happened on our way back from dinner!” Rowan exclaimed, and retold the events that had delayed them.

* * *

 

The next morning, MC was exhausted. She could feel the heavy bags under her eyes and yawned deeply as they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. They had stayed up late talking and then studying, and even after they had gone up to the dorms she had been still been unable to sleep. The lingering effect of the coffee kept her brain and heart racing long after her head hit the pillow, and now she was paying for it. MC barely even reacted when she bumped into Merula Snyde, who got back at her by sending a string of foul words at her. 

When they looked for empty seats at the Hufflepuff table, MC saw Rakepick seated amongst the other teachers. From the look of her you would never guess she most likely had a niffler recovering from a curse in her pocket, as she was smiling and talking pleasantly with professor Flitwick. Rakepick noticed MC now, and winked at her before ignoring her.

MC thought back at the day before and wondered, were they supposed to forget about the cursed ring now? Or, was this going to lead into another yet adventure? 


End file.
